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Trump Administration Announces Partial Funding for SNAP During Government Shutdown

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The USDA has allocated $4.65 billion from its contingency fund to cover 50 % of SNAP allotments, plus an additional $600 million earmarked for state‑level administrative and nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico and American Samoa. The program was originally set to freeze on November 1 after the USDA announced it could not fund SNAP during a federal shutdown, but federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island issued rulings requiring the program to remain active, prompting the administration to provide partial funding.

    1. Even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out.
    2. If the administration complies with the courts' rulings to release the SNAP contingency funds immediately and supplements those amounts using its legal transfer authority, which the courts also affirmed, then SNAP benefits could begin to be issued with only a short delay.
    1. This court has now clarified that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program.
    1. Given the variation among State systems, some of which are decades old, it is unclear how many States will complete the changes in an automated manner with minimal disruption versus manual overrides or computations that could lead to payment errors and significant delays.
    2. USDA has determined that creating a shortfall in Child Nutrition Program funds to fund one month of SNAP benefits is an unacceptable risk … because shifting $4 billion dollars to America's SNAP population merely shifts the problem to millions of America's low income children that receive their meals at school.
    1. There's a process that has to be followed.
    1. It shouldn't take a court order to force our President to provide essential nutrition that Congress has made clear needs to be provided. But since that is what it takes, we will continue to use the courts to protect the rights of people.
    2. Rest assured, we will continue to fight so that people have the full benefits they are entitled to under SNAP.
    1. The Trump administration could transfer enough money over to SNAP to pay for full benefits in November without any conceivable risk to child nutrition.